Craig Wighton signs pre contract with Dunfermline

23 year old to leave Hearts after agreeing a pre contract at Dunfermline

DAFC are delighted to announce the signing of Craig Wighton on a pre contract, starting 1 June 2021 to 31 May 2023.

We look forward to welcoming Craig to East End Park, in the summer, once his contract with Hearts expires on 31 May 2021.”

Manager Stevie Crawford commented:-

“We are delighted that we have Craig, he is 23, he will be 24 in the summer and he has put pen to paper on a pre contract with us. He is a player who I have admired since he broke into a Dundee team as a sixteen year old.

“He has a wealth of experience in terms of Championship, Premiership, Championship, Premiership, but he has also gone out on loan and had spells at Brechin. He had a spell at Raith Rovers on loan and even last year after he had suffered an injury with Hearts he went out on loan to get football at Arbroath.

“He has an appetite for the game, he wants to play football. Again it shows that we are trying to get the right kind of player that is hungry, at a good age with a lot of his years ahead of him.

“He is a different type from what we have got. I do see him as a striker. I see traits in him that he is more of a striker albeit he can play in wider positions because that is the type of boy he is. So there is flexibility to his game.

“He is also a player who has goals in him. If you look at his career as a whole, his stats are maybe not what you would want them to be but he has had to battle through injuries going to clubs that have changed manager and he very much sees Dunfermline as a club that is going in the right direction where he can start enjoying his football. The big thing for him is that I see him as a striker.”

Craig Wighton signed for Dundee while still attending Harris Academy. He came through the youth ranks at Dundee and he turned down a move to local rivals Dundee United as his family are Dundee supporters. made his first team debut aged 16 in October 2013.

A month later he became Dundee’s youngest ever scorer, heading home his first senior goal against Raith Rovers as The Dee would go on to lift the Championship title.

Loan spells at Brechin City and Raith Rovers followed before Craig returned to Dundee for the second-half of the 2015/16, when he famously scored the 93rd minute winner that relegated city rivals Dundee United.

A knee ligament injury cruelly stopped his 2017/18 season before it even started but he returned to action before the campaign was out, featuring in matches against Celtic and Rangers.

He made a total of 92 appearances in a dark blue shirt and scored eight goals.

Craig moved to Hearts in August 2018 and he has currently made 37 appearances. Daniel Stendel loaned him out to Arbroath where he scored three goals in five games before covid ended the 2019-2020 season.

He scored his first goals for Hearts when he scored a hat-trick in the Betfred Cup match against Raith Rovers in October last year and went on to play for Hearts as a substitute in the 2020 Scottish Cup Final.

A regular on the Scotland scene, Craig has been capped at every level from U15s to U21s.